Star Wars: Episode I redone
by BCandTheSundaceK
Summary: How it all began, an attempt to create a satisfying prequel story, about how the Republic fell, and how the empire was created.
1. Chapter 1

The Phantom Menace

Civil unrest is spreading throughout the Republic.

Thousands of worlds teeter at the brink of anarchy.

The Jedi, the peacekeepers of the Republic for a thousand generations,

have been deployed across the galaxy to ease tensions on these worlds.

Naboo, jewel of the Republic, has brought the tensions to a head.

Naboo's eon old rivalry with its moon of Nibia has flared up once again.

Neither planet having a sizable army, the Jedi dispatch only 2 of their Knights.

Negotiations have started back up, and the Jedi hope the rest of the galaxy follows suit

Chapter 1.

"Do you really think it will come to war?" asked the younger Jedi

"I doubt it my Padawan, the Republic has been at peace since its founding, and there would be nothing to gain by starting a war." The Elder Jedi responded.

"Or has it been so long since a war raged that none of us know what the beginning of one looks like?"

The older Jedi chuckled and stroked his beard. "That may well be Obi-Wan."

"But we won't be where the action breaks, I mean we're on Naboo, the negotiations are winding down, this was over before we even arrived here. And we are only here because Yoda begged the Chancellor to let us come here. He just wants us out of the way."

"Obi-Wan, you know Yoda never does anything lightly. The only reason there aren't more of us here is because the Senate doesn't think the Situation on Naboo to be serious. Riots have broken out on other worlds, and that is where the public wishes the Jedi to go. The Jedi Council sensed something more to be here, but the Senate won't hear of it. And the Chancellor is a politician before anything else; he knows that if the Senate and the Jedi don't stand together at this moment of chaos that we might never get out of it. It is only because of his faith in Yoda that we are even here right now."

"If that were true Qui-Gon, why would they send us? There are plenty of better, more experienced Knights out there. Why would they send an untested Padawan, and a man who hasn't left the Coruscant Temple in over a decade …" Obi-Wan cast his eyes down upon his drink. "I'm sorry master … I didn't … I meant no disrespect ..."

Qui-Gon waved off young Kenobi's apology. Obi-Wan was right, Qui-Gon hadn't been out of the Temple until the civil unrest broke out. Not since the fire, his sons would have been about Kenobi's age by now, which is probably why Qui-Gon had taken an interest in him back at Coruscant. Yoda had trained Kenobi until he was in his late-teens, before Qui-Gon took over for the final steps in becoming a full Knight. Obi-Wan was to be his apprentice, his Padawan, until they sought a quest worthy enough to bestow the title of Knight on Kenobi. Reflecting on this, Qui-Gon often wondered if it was really he who had chosen Kenobi, or if it was some prodding by his old master to get him out of the Temple and back into life. It was one of many conversations Yoda had with Qui-Gon of late. The Force is to be applied to aid people, it does no one good to sit and meditate their lives away in the temple. Yoda was glad that Qui-Gon's family inspired him to be a shinning example of a Jedi, but since their deaths, he had forgotten how to be one. The Force was life, and it seemed that Qui-Gon forgot that life goes on, and that one day he would join his family in the embrace of the Force, but now was not the time to squander his abilities. Qui-Gon would often joke that, Yoda should follow his own advice. "Meditate the old must do, give advise, yes. Follow mine you should." Yoda told him.

The two Jedi had gone on a number of errands, but in this time of Pax-Galactica finding a quest of appropriate spiritual magnitude was few and far between. The boy now in his early twenties was one of the oldest Padawans in the order. And Qui-Gon knew that Obi-Wan blamed him for that. He knew that they younger Jedi thought the old man was coddling him, so he wouldn't lose another 'son'.

"It's quite alright, you speak the truth." Qui-Gon took a pull from his ale. "But what better two Jedi to send to a place, if you didn't want to draw attention to the situation? Speaking of that we are doing far too much of it."

Obi-Wan glanced down at his drink. Qui-Gon was right after all. This wasn't the kind of place people came to socialize, especial two men who appeared to be a father and son pair. They were at Jumba's Pub. A Gungan run establishment, it was at the far outskirts of Nubian territory, but it also didn't fall under the jurisdiction Gungan Hegemony. It wasn't a place you'd expect to find the well to do of Naboo. Obi-Wan looked himself over, he was wearing old rags of a beggar, stained with food, and who knew what else, his hood drawn high over his head, he certainly didn't appear to be a member of the prestigious Jedi Order. Luckily for them, the other patrons were more interested in the stripper and cheap booze than the two men.

"Where is he?" Obi-Wan muttered.

"Patience, you'll know when you see him."

Several drinks later, Obi-Wan was beginning to think their contact wouldn't show, or that maybe it was one of the strippers, at least that would give her an excuse if she was busy stripping, though most of the strippers had been performing … other services of late. Kenobi, felt Qui-Gon's foot tap his calf, and nonchalantly scanned the pub. A bumbling Gungan stumbled his way over from the bar, in which he had been seated for the last 20 minutes. Obi-Wan put his face in his hand, this is just what we need, he thought, a drunken local to come over to our table, while we are waiting for our contact.

"Mesa a Jar-Jar Binks!" the Gungan slurred, as he plopped himself next to Kenobi.

"Mesa get a biggo promotion, itsa time to celebrate. Tree drinks for mesa and friends."

Jar-Jar then stumbled away from the table to the bar to gather the drinks. Qui-Gon's eyes met Kenobi's. Obi-Wan couldn't believe it, this drunk was their contact, and he knew Yoda was punishing him now. Jar-Jar came back and slammed down the brews, a little drunkenly as he sat next to Obi-Wan in their booth. He almost feel across the table into Qui-Gon's lap before he regained his balance and sat down.

"To mesa." The gungan toasted, as he spilled most of his drink over himself, rather than actually drinking any of it.

"Oh noes!" He cried "A bigo mess, mesa be back soon."

As the gungan departed for the restrooms, Qui-Gon again signaled Obi-Wan. It was apparently time to go. As the two Jedi headed for their speeder Obi-Wan let out a complaint, "well that was a waste of time, that drunk was no help at all, just another wild chase at this womp-rat infested pub."

"Looks can be deceiving." Qui-Gon stated, as he tossed a data disc in the air. "Sometimes the best way to hide is in plain sight."

Kenobi caught the disc, he couldn't believe it, the whole thing had been a charade. The gungan wasn't drunk, he was just wasting time at the bar, so no one would grow suspicious of anyone directly approaching the two men at the pub. When he almost tackled Qui-Gon, he must have slipped him the disc, and his spill, just another excuse to remove him from the area. For a drunken backwater hick, maybe this Jar-Jar wasn't so bad after all.

Obi-Wan plugged the disc into the speeder as Qui-Gon drove them back towards the capital city of Theed. Jar-Jar appeared in a holographic portrait, as he laid out what he and the other gungan spies had ferreted out. When he spoke he dropped all traces of his backwater accent. Jar-Jar detailed where he would be if the two Knights would need to contact him. The most troubling piece of information that the gungan entrusted them with, was that the Nibians had no intention of reaching any sort of settlement with the inhabitants of Naboo.

The gungan described the relationship of the three species that populated the two worlds. Naboo was shared by the humans and the gungans. The gungans an amphibious humanoid, with a head similar to a duckbilled dinosaur with stalked eyes placed on top of their heads, and long earl-like fins extending out from behind their eyes, life-form dominated the southern-hemisphere which was mostly oceanic in nature, while the humans lived in the northern-hemisphere. Naboo was one of the most resource rich planets in the galaxy, hence its nickname of 'Jewel of the Republic'. The gungans were mostly farmers exporting crops to the rest of the republic, while the humans were artisans who manufactured starships and starship drives. The ultra sleek Nubian Starships were second to none in quality, and the only faster ships in the galaxy were manufactured in Corellia, but most people were willing to take less speed for more style and comfort. The Nubians also produced fine art which was reflected in all of their cities, with their large supply of lumber and ore it was hard to find any affluent member of the Republic who didn't have at least one Nubian masterpiece adorning their home.

The Nibians however were not as well off. The insectoid Nubians stood about a meter tall, and looked strikingly like praying mantises, they had two sets of arms, a smaller set located by their abdomen ending in 3 digits, and a larger set ending in 4. The Nibians lived on a canyon planet, with minimal resources, and many pitfalls, because of this all Nibians were natural navigators. Needing to remember how to traverse the planet for resources meant survival. With the advent of astromech droids, the demand for deep space navigators hadn't been as high. With their primary export on the decline and no other worldly resources to fall back on the Nibians grew to loath the Nubians.

"It looks like the Nubians are living in the lap of luxury, while their Nibian neighbors are forced to live in the slums. I think the Nibians have a right to be angry, the greed displayed by the Nubians is outstanding."

"The Nibians do have a right to be upset, but not at the Nubians. They didn't cause Nibia's downfall. Are the Nubians being greedy, yes, instead of hoarding their wealthy they could aid Nibia. But Nibia's anger has clouded their judgment, instead of lashing out at Naboo, they could focus their efforts on fixing their own problem."

Obi-Wan nodded, "true enough, I guess this situation isn't as simple as it seems."

Qui-Gon agreed, "it isn't that difficult either, if they would both work together and put aside their anger, greed and fear, we wouldn't be in this mess."

Jar-Jar's message played on. It seemed that the Nibian had close ties to the Trade Federation, a galactic trade guild that had built their fortune from transporting goods across the galaxy. They were headed by the Neimoidians, a reptilian humanoid species with large bulbous red eyes heart shaped heads green-gray skin and lack of a proboscis. The Neimoidians and the Nibian had close ties though the Trade Federation, it was one of the few corporations that kept so many Nibian navigators on retainer. The Neimoidians found that the Nibians loyalty was worth more than an astromechs retraining bolt.

The Neimoidian Trade Federation had another thing in common with the citizens of Nibia, they despised Naboo. Naboo was one of the few planets that kept the Federation from having a monopoly on the import/export business. Naboo refused to let the Federation deliver its goods to other planets. The revenue from delivering Nubian exports alone was worth a dozen contracts from other worlds.

Qui-Gon shifted the landspeeder into a higher gear. Kenobi felt his master's sense of urgency increase.

"The Trade Federation! This is not good, we must alert the Republic before it is too late. The comms in this speeder don't have the strength to send a signal to Coruscant, but it should get us through to the Queen's cambers in Theed."

"What are you talking about?" Kenobi demanded.

"The Trade Federation has one of the largest standing armies in the Republic," Qui-Gon explained.

"Why would the Republic allow a Guild specializing in trade to have an army at all?"

"Pirates, Smugglers, and thieves, most of the goods they move are very valuable, and they need to be escorted by someone. The Federation realized that they could move things cheaper if they didn't need to pay the Republic fleet as an escort for every shipment they made, and they have their own fighter wings of Vulture droids, and garrisons full of infantry consisting of B1 Battle droids. If they jump here with a fleet of _Lucrehulk-_class droid control ships Naboo will fall in days."

A glow orb flashed in Kenobi's mind. "With the fleet spread across the galaxy, no one will even know that this coup has taken place. They force Naboo to sign their treaty, hold them hostage and operate like everything is normal. Nothing will stir up the Republic's attention if they hold the whole planet under quarantine!"

"At least there is one upside to this," Qui-Gon stated. "They aren't ready to openly defy the Republic, or they would have just taken the whole planet by force."

"Some upside."

Qui-Gon tried the comm. system again, and this time a woman appeared, they obviously hadn't penetrated the web of bureaucracy that surrounded all heads of state.

"This is Fa Kabob, how may I direct your call?"

"I am Qui-Gon Jinn of the Jedi Order, I need to address Queen Amidala, it is of grave urgency."

"The Queen is busy now, can I take a message?"

"This is far more important I assure you!"

"I'll see, let me put you on hold."

"No! Wait."

Fa Kabob hesitated, before transporting them into the purgatory that is holding.

"Tell the Queen to contact the Senate and have them send the Fleet to Naboo, contact them yourself if you have to just do it now."

Fa Kabob nodded and then proceeded to put the Jedi on hold.

"It looks like we'll have to trust in the force at this point." Kenobi stated.

"We still are over an hour out from Theed, I hope we make it there in time."


	2. Chapter 2

Fa Kabob, had no idea what could be so urgent that the Queen be brought out of negotiations, or what would prompt the need for the Republic Fleet. There were other worlds rioting, Naboo was by comparison very peaceful. Sure tensions were high, but nothing was to come of it, after all it was all winding down, at least that is what she heard on the Holo-Net earlier today.

Who was she to question a Jedi? She was after all a lowly grunt worker, who was in charge of transferring calls, and giving out tour information. She doubted she could even get through to the Chancellor, she would need the Queen's comm. code, and even then with the thousands of worlds in the Republic, it was hard for anyone to get a hold of the Chancellor. Fa sent Jinn's message to the Queen's hand-held comm. if she caught a glance at it, and was able to get away from negotiations for a moment, maybe she could get out a warning, that someone would see eventually, if not right away.

She had seen Jinn and Kenobi, the two Jedi peacekeepers with the Queen the other day. She didn't get the impression that Jinn was one to make outrageous claims with out being able to back them. She figured it was her duty to try and help the Jedi, though she probably couldn't actually aid them in anyway. She put aside her doubt and keyed up the Chancellor's chambers on Corascant.

"That's odd," she said out loud. "It sounds like I didn't even get a connection."

She turned to her coworker to see if he could key up any extra-solar connections.

"That's odd," he stated. "The comm. arrays must be down for maintenance or something, looks like all outside lines are dead. I wonder why they would shut them all down at once?"

Fa's eyes went wide, it seems Qui-Gon was right, but he was too late.

Amidala rolled her eyes, Mogab, the representative from Nibia had been blasting hot air for the last 40 minutes. These negotiations were going no where. This was supposed to be a quick in and out. The young queen had an athletic build, heart shaped face, modest breasts, her usually flowing brunette hair was pulled up into a tight fan-like bun, a style the queen often employed at stately affairs. She also was wearing her official scarlet Nubian royal robes, and her face was painted white. Not only did this give the appearance of a pure queen, it also made it easier to plant a decoy. She was only a cycle under twenty, having inherited the throne her late mother. She could have opted out of being queen and given it to any number of her older and more experienced cousins. She felt that she could make a difference in the system, and that since she was young enough not to have been taken in by the political animal that she was actually representing everyday people, and not her own interest or that of the easy swayed mob.

What she didn't realize is that she would have to deal with the constant inflow of idiots, such as Sio Bibble. He was one of many Lords that were in charge of the negotiations. He was a graying man with a pointed conquistador style beard. He was supposed to lay the ground work of the negotiation and make sure there was none of this pointless rhetoric being blasted by Mogab. He was an older remnant from the part of the system Amidala despised. He was only looking out for number one, and he would do that at any cost, which as of now, was making her look the fool. If he had his way he would ensure that one of his own children would receive the crown, so he could run the show from the shadows.

Amidala felt her comm. jingle, it tore her eyes away from boring a hole in Sio's forehead. A message scrolled across the comm. it was a priority alert, sent from the Master Jedi. This could be urgent, Jinn said he sensed something was amiss about these negotiations, though Amidala never put much stalk in the feelings of 'holy men' she knew that the Chancellor had insisted these Jedi peacekeepers stay on Naboo. The Chancellor's trust in these men far out-weighed her lack of faith in their religious superstitions.

Amidala stood up and addressed the chamber. "It seems that these negotiations are going to take longer than anticipated, I suggest we break for a few minutes and then return to our discussions."

Before anyone could object, she defiantly walked out of the room. As soon as she passed the threshold she was swarmed by her entourage of handmaidens and body guards. She ignored their inquires as she played through the message. She was shocked, the Jedi wanted them to bring the fleet here? Nothing was amiss, except maybe the meeting, it had drawn on for way too long. Could it be a distraction tactic? They were located in the Mid-Rim of the galaxy, it wouldn't take the fleet that long to reach here if they were summoned, unless they couldn't be summoned.

Amidala punched in her comm. code and tried keying up Coruscant, she didn't hear the connection tone. She then tried Alderaan, Naboo's closest ally, nothing still. This was odd indeed.

"Sabé," Amidala called out. "I need to talk to Captain Panaka, and it looks like our recess has ended. I need you to go back there in my stead, No one else has said anything, so I doubt anyone will notice."

Sabé had been one of Amidala's closest friends since childhood. She was a handmaiden that had served the Amidala family for years, and she also happened to look almost identical to Amidala. She was often deployed as a decoy, to throw off press or in this case other heads of state, while the queen would attend other business.

"And Sabé, be safe in there, I don't know what is going on, but if you feel things are getting too hairy, I want you to get out of there, I would rather have a friend who's alive then a dead hero to mourn."

Sabé nodded, and the entourage split into two groups, one of which was getting her prepped to go back into the conference chamber, the other of which was escorting Amidala to Panaka's combat control station.

Panaka was a tall dark man who was in charge of planetary control and defense. Though in this day and age, he was essentially a glorified air-traffic controller. Her mother trusted this man implicitly, which is why he had held the job of planetary security, even if it was during a time of peace.

Amidala entered the CCS to find a frustrated looking Panaka. Clearly she wasn't the only one having comm. troubles.

"Panaka, I can't raise the comm. arrays? I tried hailing Courscant and Aldreann with no response. What is going on here?"

Panaka met Amidala's eyes, "it's as if the arrays have disappeared, all comm. traffic has been severed even with Nibia, I don't even know if their arrays are up, but if this was cause by some sort of solar disturbance I would doubt they had comms up either."

"What about planetside comm. traffic, is that still functional?"

"Yeah, it is limited though, again that is too be expected from solar activity, but I didn't get any warning from anyone about this. The Force be damned, I was just about to pull up the long range sensors, to see what is going on out there."

Panaka keyed up the sensors on the display screen, at first Amidala thought they were malfunctioning, the screen was blank. Panaka zoomed out several times, and she saw that they weren't malfunctioning, but were being blocked out. The sky had a squadron of _Lucrehulk _control ships deployed around Naboo. They had blockaded the planet, with over 500 flights of _Vulture _droid starfighters, nothing was going to get out of Naboo.

Amidala felt her comm. vibrate again, this time it was a message from Sabé, it was short and to the point, it simply said: Run!


	3. Chapter 3

Nute Gunray, the Viceroy of the Trade Federation strolled through the halls of Theed's capital building. The royal palace of Naboo was with out compare, save for maybe the Supreme Chancellor's citadel on Coruscant. If there was a flaw in the palace it might be that it was too opulent. Every square centimeter was covered in carvings, tapestries or murals. The atrium of the palace contained a model of the solar system, Naboo's star floated in the center of the atrium, spanning 5 meters in diameter, was made up of fossilized amber, while Naboo itself was made up of sapphires and emeralds. Oddly enough the moon of Nibia, despite having limited resources, was actually constructed out of diamond and platinum, reflecting the ghostly appearance that the moon actually displayed. He could definitely get used to this.

The Neimoidian and his landing party had just set foot down planet side moments ago. They were in sharp contrast to the frail beauty that Naboo exhibited. Nute came down upon Naboo with the ferocious brute strength of the Trade Federation. Dozens of tanks and troop carriers and his legions of battle droids left the citizens of Theed with only a slight glimpse of what was the beginning of the rape and pillaging of their planet. Several Tanks had pulled up into the plaza in front of the capital building. Walking with his platoon of personal B1 battle droid guards he came across a young queen and her captain of the guard.

"I wouldn't reach for those weapons, if I were you," Nute suggested. "It would be far better for you, and your people if you cooperated in a hospitable manner."

Amidala's eyes sent daggers at Nute, he was right of course. They had them surrounded, caught with their pants down. But was it really so easy for the Nubians to be taken by surprise? And with so little warning? She sighed as she was lead back into the chamber where she had left Sabé moments ago. Magob had now taken place atop the podium where the Queen had been sitting, the smug bastard enjoying every minute of it. The rest of the Nubians were rounded up and put in the corner of the chamber. Amidala went over to them, and was relieved to see Sabé was unharmed.

Amidala wished she could say she was shocked when she noticed that Sio wasn't in the group of Nubians who were rounded up. It made sense, here was his chance to get placed on the throne, even if he was just a puppet. Power, even the illusion of power was too great a draw for him to turn down. It also explained why it took so long for the Nubians to realize an invasion fleet had arrived.

"Well it seems all of the pieces have fallen into place," Amidala sneered. "At least we always knew where your loyalties lay Sio."

Sio let out a chuckle, "all you have now is words, I have the power."

"Enough!" Nute roared, "Now is not the time to gloat, we must sign over power to The Trade Federation, and to the new ruler of Naboo: Sio."

"Do not forget about us," Magob chimed in.

"Ah yes, the Nibians also wish to have the Nubians generously donate some of their overabundance of resources, such as water, and those gunganese grains that are so fetching on today's market."

"Those are Gungan controlled resources, we can't give you control over any of that." Amidala pointed out.

"Bah, the gungans, back-water pond scum. They have no say in how this planet is run. The Nubians control the real power." Sio proclaimed.

Amidala's eyes narrowed, Sio for as stupid as he appeared was only half wrong with his statement. The Republic didn't recognize the gungans with their own seat in the Senate, it was shared with the Nubians. Or more correctly, the gungans didn't care, they had never had anyone seek a seat at the senate or any representation, it seemed that they were content with having the Nubians deal with all the galactic affairs, so long as they could grow and sell their crops. So if the Nubians said this is what the gungans wanted, the Republic would have been none the wiser. But the gungan were far more numerous than the Nubians, and wouldn't take this blatant disregard for their welfare laying down.

"Alright let's get down to business," Sio exclaimed. "Sign this treaty and we can all be on our merry way."

Sio had produced a new document, one that no doubt contained all of material to sign power over to himself, and the Trade Federation, as well as the Nibians. He probably had been tweaking it non-stop since it was handed over to him. Doing whatever he wanted. Weaseling himself into as much power as he could muster. He probably didn't realize that this blockade would never end, and that Naboo would for ever be under martial law. The droids don't sleep, they don't eat, they will keep us in line. All comm. traffic will be monitored, and censored, and you could forget about anyone trying to get off planet. The only real loose ends would be the Senator from Naboo, and if these Trade Federation usurpers had any brains he would be in their pocket already.

It wouldn't matter how much power he gave himself he would never be able to exercise it, and who would be able to tell if he did? The Federation might need some time to convince the senate to allow them to maintain such strict control over Naboo, but with civil unrest spreading like wild fire, Amidala was sure they wouldn't need too much prodding. She was left with only one tactic, the same one employed by Magob, all she could do was stall, as soon as she signed the treaty it was over. As long as she waited there would still be hope.

"So," beamed Sio, "shall we get started. My dear Queen Amidala, please sign this treaty."

"No."

"Fine," commented Nute. "Kill her and forge the document, or just sign it yourself it makes no difference to me."

"No!" He screamed as he jumped in front of Amidala and the battle droids.

_Damn_, she thought, _if I could have only been so lucky to be executed_._ Sio isn't as dumb as he looks._

"We, can't kill her," Sio explained. "You can't forge a Republic document, everyone knows it is impossible, Only she has the access codes to make it official. If we kill her and I sign it over, because I'm next in line, that would just bring a Republic inquiry. No youngster would just up and die, it would be too suspicious. And it is well known through out the sector she has no intentions of gifting her power away. Nope she has to sign it unless you want the Republic fleet to come a knocking."

"As soon as I sign that sheet, I'm as good as dead." Amidala spat, "I'm never signing that document."

"Oh I think you will," Sio smiled villainously. "I know you are the Queen of the People, and all I have to do is squeeze enough and you'll sign them over. You know I have the power. Sign now and you can end it before it starts."

"Screw you." Amidala said, as her foot connected with Sio's gonads.

Sio rolled on the floor and vomited. "Very well, just remember this is all your doing, guards take them away."

Amidala was again thankful for Sio's stupidity, he had been right, she would eventually cave if it meant ending her peoples suffering. Even at the cost of making it look like it had been her fault and painted Sio as a hero, for however short a period that would last. She was just glad he hadn't started executing the staff, if anything happened to Sabé, she didn't think she could forgive herself. She had bought them some time, but she wasn't about to go about congratulating herself. A document signed by her would have to materialize in the next couple of days, or someone in the Republic would be bound to notice something strange occurring at Naboo.

She did something she hardly ever did, she prayed, prayed that everything would work out, and prayed that the Jedi were everything people claimed they were. If not Naboo was doomed.

Sunlight poured into his room, he couldn't resist it any longer. Day had been broken for several hours, he would eventually have to get up and do something. It might as well be now. The tall man with a solid build, boyish face, strong jaw, light brown hair and blue-green eyes stood up in front of his window allowing the light accentuate his features.

It had been a while since Anakin had the day off, he did after all perform two different tasks, he was one the Queen's pilots, as well as a guard. And going off planet was seldom a rarity, not that he minded it. Anakin had always been enchanted by Amidala's beauty, even as kids. Anakin's mother was a handmaiden to Amidala's mother, and so the two children grew up together. He was one of only several other playmates that Amidala had growing up. He saw being a guard as a way of repaying a family that had been so kind to his own in the past. That and she was easy on the eyes, so it wasn't too much of a burden for him to remain on Naboo as a guard.

Though now Amidala hardly took the time to notice him, he often wondered if she remembered him. He assumed she did, but he was like any other of a dozen guards surrounding her. It wasn't like she was singling him out just to ignore him; she hardly talked to any of the other guards either. She had more important people to talk to.

Anakin shook his head, he had barely just begun his day off and he was already thinking about her. He sat down and began to eat his breakfast as he poured over the headlines on the Holo-Net. All it did was suck him back to work. Negotiations this, Republic in strife that, why did I even get up? Anakin stepped out of his of his rotund one story house and on to the cobblestone streets of Theed. It was quiet today, more so than usual. There were always birds singing, or some herder's falumpasets bellowing. Anakin's comm. buzzed, he had been sent a message from Amidala, it read: Help.

Anakin didn't know what was going on, no one looked to be in the streets and it was much too quiet, and now the Queen needed help. He jumped into his speeder and took off in the direction of the capital building. He didn't need to travel too far until he saw what all the noise was about, or rather, the lack of noise. It seemed that battle droids had taken up position around the capital building. He saw AAT and MTTs and even a few _Vulture_ droids in their walking configuration surrounding the plaza in front of the capital building, and setting up a perimeter around Theed.

He took out his electro-binoculars, and zoomed in on one of the AATs, it looked like a Neimoidian Trade Federation Tank. He had no idea what they were doing here, he just knew it wasn't good. The Trade Federation and the Nubian people had never really been on good terms, so he doubted that they were acting as security for the negotiations. Amidala had to still be in the capital building, she certainly was being held hostage. Anakin checked his comm. again, only the one message. He hoped he could get there in time to do some good.

There was no way he could infiltrate the building with a bunch of royal guards, the Battle Droids would acquire them and obliterate them almost instantly. He was going to have to sneak in alone, and make his way towards the queen. He just hoped that he wouldn't get caught before he got too far.

He made had made his way over to the eastern wall of the capital building, with relative ease. It was relatively out of the way, and contained a secret escape, or in this case entrance, door. He stripped the hidden panel off the wall, and began entering the override codes to open the door up. Anakin couldn't believe his luck; he had made it all the way across town, and the plaza with out anyone noticing him. And now he was about to breach the outer wall of the palace.

"Hey you, where are you going?"

So much for luck.


	4. Chapter 4

The landspeeders repulsorlift roared as it zipped towards Theed. Obi-Wan went over the data disc another time, just to be sure he had all of the facts straight. As he did, he glanced over at Qui-Gon. His face was grim; Obi-Wan could tell by the look on his face that he knew they would already be too late.

"There was nothing more we could have done," Obi-Wan offered.

"Yes, there was," Qui-Gon sighed. "If we had only had set up a better comm. system to contact Amidala, before we had left, we might have gotten off a warning before it was too late."

Kenobi, didn't know how to answer that one, he felt his mentor was probably once again correct with his assessment.

"But that is how things go in the field," Qui-Gon continued. "Nothing goes as planned, and there was always another option that could have worked better. That's something many of you Padawans at the Temples don't realize, when you are at the temple you have the luxury of time, second guessing and hindsight. In the real world, even with the aid of the Force we are still limited. We still may yet salvage this mess; the key is not to lose hope."

"The senior council foresaw trouble in the Naboo sector," Obi-Wan agreed. "They will be watching it closely."

"Let us hope that they will move while we still have time."

The landspeeder now had approached the city limits of Theed, and Qui-Gon slowed his speed, but not by too much. With the aid of his Jedi abilities he would be able to avoid colliding with anyone. It didn't take long before even Kenobi sensed that something wasn't right in the capital.

"There is much fear here," he commented.

Qui-Gon pointed his hand off into the distance, Obi-Wan allowed his gaze to wander over in that direction.

"You see those MTTs setting up a perimeter? Those carry a whole company of troops. It looks like they are launching STAPs as well. We will have to be careful."

Qui-Gon slowed the speeder down to coincide with the city mandated limits, like he said; they needed to blend in more, and following speed limits was a part of it. Even if it did slow their progress down. Luckily neither Jedi needed to stop back at their quarters, they had brought all of their necessary gear with them to meet their contact. They soon departed from the speeder. The square in front of the capital building, the whole plaza in fact was crawling with battle droids. They couldn't just go charging in there, lightsabers blazing. Sure they might take a few dozen droids with them, but they would be quickly overwhelmed. A battle droid is not match for a Jedi, but a couple hundred of them, are more than enough. Hey, Jedi are people too.

Obi-Wan fondled his lightsaber, removing it from his belt. He wanted it at hand, if anything was going to go down. Qui-Gon motioned to the skyways, they seemed less heavily patrolled, and with their awnings restricting the view of anyone flying by on a STAP. As Kenobi ascended the stairs, he noticed that what few people he did see were fleeing back to their homes, at least fleeing away from the plaza. He did note that a few people were being rounded up, for what purpose he couldn't yet fathom, but he was sure he didn't want to know.

The Jedi continued towards the eastern side of the palace, where it sat upon the edge of a cliff. The planetary architect, who designed the landscape for the capital building, had placed a water fall that ran off the cliff on the eastern side. It made the capital building look even more majestic, giving it an almost divine appearance.

Qui-Gon noticed a young man, who must have been around Obi-Wan's age that was sneaking towards the eastern gate as well. This man was toting a blaster, and had an air of confidence about him, that suggested that he knew how to use it. Qui-Gon suggested that they approach him and ask him for his help. Since he seemed to be aware of the secret entrance the Queen had told them about when they had arrived earlier.

"I don't know if we can trust him," Obi-Wan stated.

"Nonsense, the Force is strong with this one, and I sense that we can trust him. My instincts tell me that he has a larger role to play, one I think we can aid him in."

It was at times like this that Obi-Wan wondered if there was a certain age that you reached that you started getting these 'feelings' that Qui-Gon talked about, or if it was a deeper connection to the Force that Obi-Wan hadn't yet achieved. Either way, Obi-Wan had doubts that he would ever reach that point.

The two Jedi approached the young man, who was crouched down, and appeared to have pulled a panel off the seamless wall that was the capital building.

"Hey you, where are you going?" Qui-Gon called in a hushed tone.

The young man dropped the hydrospanner than he had used to access the door controls and started to go for his blaster. He hesitated when he noticed that these were men and not battle droids, and when he noticed what he assumed to be an unlit lightsaber.

"You two, you're the Jedi's from Coruscant, aren't you." Anakin stated.

"I'm Qui-Gon Jinn, and this is Obi-Wan Kenobi," Qui-Gon stated. "It seems we are in need of your assistance, you appear to know the back passages of this palace and we don't."

"I don't much believe in coincidences, but we should get moving if we're going to get the Queen out of here."

"The Queen told us about this entrance, if we ever needed to secret her away. But we saw this as more of a rendezvous point rather than a way in," Obi-Wan began. "And with the Trade Federation army patrolling the whole palace …"

"Yeah, yeah, I heard the other one." Anakin snapped. "Just follow me and keep your mouths shut."

Anakin led the two Jedi through the secret entrance way, and down the hidden hallways. The hallways were actually inside certain sections of the palaces walls. Very few members of the royal family even knew where they were all located. Even Anakin and some of the other trusted guards only had limited idea of where anything was. Only Amidala knew the whole floor plan. It seemed that paranoia might have paid off in the long run.

"I think this doorway here leads to the Queen's Chambers," Anakin explained. "I think that this is where she would be held if she was being held. There is only the 'one' entrance. I warn you though, the chamber is rather large, and itself is broken up into several rooms."

Qui-Gon unclipped his lightsaber from his belt, as Anakin upholstered his blaster. The hidden door gave a slight creak as it slowly swung open. Obviously years of neglect had warn on the hinges. Anakin had been correct this was the Queen's Chambers. They had appeared in one of the smaller quarters that attached to the larger center chamber where the Queen's bed would be.

Obi-Wan reached out with the Force scanning his surroundings. He knew this would have little effect in helping him detect the lifeless droids, or even battle harden soldiers who were more skilled at hiding their thoughts. It is true that one can sense the presence of life through the Force, it is like a candle burning in the dark. The candles luminescence reflects the life form, lower life forms, non-sentient ones, have dimmer 'lights', and Force users have ones that are 'brighter' still. Through the Force you could get glimpses of surface thoughts, if the subject was experiencing an overwhelming emotion, whether it is love, happiness or in this case fear. While this would easily allow him to sense other Force users in the area or anyone in a heightened emotional state, it was hard to see anything through the bonfire of emotions given off by the hostages.

Qui-Gon's senses also picked up on the half dozen distressed being in the central chamber. He knew that they must have posted guards in the room; it would explain the high levels of emotion that they were reading. Usually when captors aren't present there is a background wash of emotions such as hope, and calm. Neither Jedi sensed these things, so they knew that they were going to have a fight on their hands.

They wanted to maximize their success by relying on the element of surprise for as long as they could. This meant not charging in with lightsabers blazing and blasters roaring. All that would do is draw even more troops to their location. The three crept towards the opening to the Queen's Room, when their silent approach was interrupted by Anakin yelling

"Look out!"

Before Obi-Wan could even react, or activate his lightsaber, Anakin had pushed him down and brought his blaster to bear on a battle droid that was hidden away in the corner of the room. The blaster bolt sailed harmlessly between Kenobi and Skywalker, as Anakin's return fire landed square in the droids torso causing it to erupt into a shower of molten parts.

"So much for the element of surprise," muttered Qui-Gon.

Obi-Wan turned the momentum provided by Anakin's push into a forward roll, slinging him into the Queen's Bedroom. He noted the dozen battle droids standing around the chamber. Several of them were clustered near the hostages. It was a foolish part of their programming, aimed to intimidate their captives. They had no reason for such proximity; they could have easily blasted them if they had been clear across the room. All this accomplished was placing them in close enough quarters with Obi-Wan that he should be able to dispatch half of their squad in no time flat. It was really stupid of the Neimoidians to have put in such commands, but Obi-Wan wasn't one to complain.

Obi-Wan converted his somersault into a front hand spring as he lit his lightsaber. It emitted a low hum, and bathed the chamber with a soothing blue light. With one arching swing Kenobi's lightsaber downed several battle droids.

"Run! This way," called Anakin, who still was in the other room. From his vantage point he could lay down cover fire with out exposing himself.

Qui-Gon burst into the chamber with his green blade blazing. He made his way towards the troops guarding the only known entrance to the Chambers. Simultaneously drawing their fire, and closing in to striking distance. Jinn reflected a blaster shot back into an unsuspecting droid.

Amidala took advantage of the situation, and scooped up a blaster that had been discarded by one of the droids Kenobi had downed. Firing off a few distracting shots, she waved the rest of her entourage towards Anakin.

"Go on," Obi-Wan called. "We'll hold them off as long as we can."

Though he knew it wouldn't be much longer. He could hear the foot falls of more approaching battle droids, along with the metallic rolling sound of their shield sporting cousins, droidekas were approaching. The droidekas weren't invisible, but they added another degree of difficulty, one had to get much close to those droids, than the B1's. What really mattered was the numbers. It didn't matter how good you were, there were only so many blaster shots you could deflect at once. If the battle droids programmers had any sense they would know to shoot at the Jedi in a spread fashion, instead of having them all focus on their center of mass.

"Well, I think it is time we take our leave," Qui-Gon stated.

Obi-Wan nodded in agreement as they made their way back towards the secret exit. Qui-Gon had barely time to seal the doors before he heard the sirens beginning to sounds.

"It appears that they know you have escaped your highness." Obi-Wan remarked.

"I was afraid of this," Qui-Gon mussed. "How far down do the falls go?"

"I don't know," Anakin stammered. "70, maybe 80 meters."

"Screw that," a handmaiden piped.

"It is either that or, stay here and get captured," Amidala stated. "And I for one am taking my chances with the falls."

Anakin glanced down at his blaster "this is what I get for bring my new blaster," he muttered, as he leapt out into the nothingness.


End file.
